How Beautiful is the Rain! : H.W.

Longfellow
(http://www.english-for-students.com/How-Beautiful-is-the-Rain.html)
How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!
How it clatters along the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs!
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout
Across the window-pane
It pours and pours
And swift and wide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
!he rain, the welcome rain!
!he sick man from his chamber
Looks at the twisted brooks
He can feel the cool
"reath of each little pool
His fevered brain
#rows calm again,
And he breathes a blessing on the rain$
From the neighbouring school
%ome the boys,
&ith more than their wonted noise
And commotion
And down the wet streets
'ail their mimic fleets,
!ill the treacherous pool
(ngulfs them in its whirling
And turbulent ocean$
In the country, on every side,
&here far and wide,
Like a leopard)s tawny and spotted hide
'tretches the plain,
!o the dry grass and the drier grain
How welcome is the rain!
In the furrowed land
!he toilsome and patient o*en stand+
Lifting the yoke-encumbered head,
&ith their dilated nostrils spread,
!hey silently inhale
!he clover-scented gale,
And the vapours that arise
From the well-watered and smoking soil$
For this rest in the furrow after toil
!heir large and lustrous eyes
'eem to thank the Lord,
,ore than man)s spoken word$
-ear at hand,
From under the sheltering trees,
!he farmer sees
His pastures, and his fields of grain,
As they bend their tops
!o the numberless beating drops
.f the incessant rain$
He counts it as no sin
!hat he sees therein
.nly his own thrift and gain$